In contemplating possible articles related to ace week, I tried to think of classic geek characters who are asexual. That led me to wonder, “How would I even know? It’s not like we get 24/7 access to these fictional people’s’ lives.” But then, very quickly, I realized that we do know that a lot of our favorite characters are not ace/aro because so many of them have had on-screen relationships and sexual encounters that are presented as a product of the characters’ own sex drive (rather than as ace people who are accommodating their partner). But why? Is there something about our sexual lives that is so essential to our identities that it requires exposition in our fictional characters, or is this just an example of ace erasure? After some additional geeky contemplation, it occurred to me that there is one beloved character who is, in fact, perfectly suited to…

So you are a photographer, and you’re new to shooting with models. If you read the first article in this series, you may have done your research and be ready to book your first shoot. You may have made your booking and be planning the shoot itself. Let’s set out a few facts for you, and perhaps explode a few more myths.

You may be nervous if this is your first shoot with an experienced model. Again, that’s natural, but there is nothing to fear. A good model will be a people person, they will be able to set you at ease, they will be able to help you in many ways, and we will talk about them later.

Respect

Respect, such a simple concept, and one that all too often people forget about. If you are a professional photographer you will probably already recognize that every shoot is…

My trip to England in July of this year was primarily to attend a week long language class, but while I was there, I took advantage of the opportunity to photograph some English models, too.

One of those was Rebecca Tun, who I had photographed for a couple of days during my trip to Iceland in 2014. I’ve posted some photographs of her previously, and here are a few more of her at the canyon named Fjaðrárgljúfur.

I had been to this canyon on my trip to Iceland the year before, but I decided that it was worth exploring again with a camera. The weather in 2013 was not very cooperative when I was there (as was the case for pretty much the whole trip), but things were better the second time around.

Conceived and photographed by James Hall, modelled by Rebecca Tun, styled by Claudia Oliver, post-production by Paola Sammartino

I published an early version of one of these pictures a few weeks ago. Since then, Paola Sammartino has been able to work her post-production magic to these finished pictures. As ever, the key to success is to collaborate with highly talented people, and this is something I was certainly able to do on this shoot.

Wohooo… ! For the second year in a row one of my images was awarded a medal in Trierenberg Super Circuit in Austria, this time a silver medal! This is said to be “The world’s largest photo salon. It is by far the largest annual salon of photography on the globe.” Among the more than 100 000 images submitted, my image was among the few selected for a medal!

funny…just saw that in 2014, I’d said that the reason I didn’t attempt a lot of self-portraits was because I was the one person that I was least in a position to take a photo of. (in just a small note about a selfie.) now, the (improvement and fine-tuning of the) selfie camera on phones has not only made this no longer the case, but it’s almost made the opposite true – at least concerning head and shoulders portraits. we may now be our own most accessible subjects.

“All your life /You’ve been waiting to be free /Trade your pride for ecstasy /That’ll make you /Reach the sky” – Sadeness (Part II)

Last August I acted in a music video for the band Enigma‘s new song Sadeness (Part II). The song was released in October.

What do you think? …I’ve noticed both the song and the music video have had mixed reactions from hardcore fans. I don’t know how to to talk about music, so I won’t say anything about the song. Some fans have asked if there’s a version of the video without pixelated-private-parts. Well I haven’t come across one. I guess I could start claiming that that’s actually just what I look like naked.

The story in the music video has two characters – a dark, brooding monk and a mysterious seductive woman. You’ll notice that I played the latter. At first the mysterious woman is a luring temptress.

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

The monk takes her to his decadent den of dark desires.

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Now the woman is a prisoner.

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

There is some inevitable running away and chasing.

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

And an ultimate fight between good and evil.

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

Enigma Sadeness (Part II) music video

And in the end, it turns out…well, I shouldn’t spoil it. So I guess you should just watch the video.